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Justinian I · The Digest of Justinian §12.4.14.pr

Payment to an Unauthorized Agent and Effects of Ratification

Passage 1964 of 9271 · Latin

Summary

Paulus discusses, incorporating Julian's view, the recovery of undue payments and the availability of actions for theft depending on whether the principal ratifies the payment made to a false proxy.

[PAULUS libro tertio ad Sabinum. ] §12.4.14.prSi procuratori falso indebitum solutum sit, ita demum a procuratore repeti non potest, si dominus ratum habuerit, sed ipse dominus tenetur, ut Iulianus scribit.
[PAULUS, Third Book on Sabinus.] If a payment of what is not owed has been made to a false proxy, recovery cannot be sought from the proxy only if the principal has ratified it, but the principal himself is held liable, as Julian writes.
quod si dominus ratum non habuisset, etiamsi debita pecunia soluta fuisset, ab ipso procuratore repetetur: non enim quasi indebitum datum repetetur, sed quasi ob rem datum nec res secata sit ratihabitione non intercedente: uel quod furtum faceret pecuniae falsus procurator, cum quo non tantum furti agi, sed etiam condici ei posse.
But if the principal had not ratified it, even if a debt actually owed had been paid, recovery will be made from the proxy himself; for it will be recovered not as if given when not owed, but as if given for a purpose, and that purpose was not realized because ratification did not intervene; or because the false proxy committed a theft of the money, against whom not only can an action for theft be brought, but a condictio can also be brought.

Notes

  1. §12.4.14.prita demum — In the collocation 'ita demum ... si', it forms a correlative expression introducing a strict restrictive condition meaning 'only if' or 'only on the condition that'.
  2. §12.4.14.prnec res secata sit — The reading 'secata' in the manuscripts is commonly understood as a scribal error for 'secuta', the perfect participle of 'sequor' (to follow, ensue, or be realized). Thus, 'nec res secuta sit' means 'and the purpose (of the payment, i.e., discharge of debt) was not realized' due to the lack of ratification.
  3. §12.4.14.prcum quo non tantum furti agi, sed etiam condici ei posse — 'cum quo' consists of the ablative relative pronoun with the postposed preposition 'cum'. Both 'agi' and 'condici' are passive infinitives used impersonally, meaning respectively 'an action to be brought' and 'a condictio to be brought', both depending on the governing infinitive 'posse' at the end.

Cite this passage

Justinian I, The Digest of Justinian §12.4.14.pr. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi2806.phi002.humanitext-lat1:12.4.14.pr

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